Tonight is the first event for the new book, and I've spent most of the afternoon at home with curlers in my hair and cucumber circles on the eyes...
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Once great director John Landis ("American Werewolf in London," the "Thriller" video) delivers a large, lavish and pretty comprehensive book on monsters. Heavy on the photographs (which are great), Landis covers everything from classic monsters to obscure ones from long forgotten b-movies. He also interviews horror greats like Sam Raimi, John Carpenter and David Cronenberg. A perfect gift for the horror fan in your life.
He may not be, as he has often said, the greatest of all time, but Jay-Z is maybe the most successful hip-hop MC of all time; he's not a businessman, he's a business, man. This heavily produced book (photos, drawings, explanatory notes) is a mix of memoir, cultural history and exegesis of his lyrics. Since there are few rap memoirs, this fills a void and is both a compelling story of his life as well as a cogent argument for the importance of hip-hop music and culture. I read part of this while watching "The Wire," which is highly recommended. Portland gets a shout out (sorta) when he explains why he chose the city for a song: "I chose Portland because it's the whitest place I could think of." Ha. Go on brush your shoulder off P-town.
Those seeking for a thoughtful treatise on a much discussed and much misunderstood topic, will be disappointed in this sad excuse for a book. Basically, it's a haphazard compendium of quotations and anecdotes that does little to clarify a sensibility and literary device that, despite premature rumors of its death, is alive and well in our culture. Is it ironic that this book sucks? Not really.
With the recent tenth anniversary of 9/11, it should be said that any thinking American who wants to make sense of the history leading up to the attacks needs to read this book. It's tremendously informative, compelling to read and may be the definitive book on the subject. If we seek to remember, we must also seek to understand.
McCarthy is among our most acclaimed/respected living writers, but it took him a while to get there. His debut novel came out way back in the 60s and, well, for fans of "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men," they'll likely find this strange, cryptic and off-putting. Sometimes I think he's a tad overrated and this novel didn't change that feeling, as it's rather meandering, willfully enigmatic and lacking in quotation marks for dialogue. I'm not even sure what happened frankly, but at least it's short.
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lukas has commented on (140) products.
Monsters in the Movies: 100 Years of Cinematic Nightmares by John Landis
lukas, December 4, 2011
Once great director John Landis ("American Werewolf in London," the "Thriller" video) delivers a large, lavish and pretty comprehensive book on monsters. Heavy on the photographs (which are great), Landis covers everything from classic monsters to obscure ones from long forgotten b-movies. He also interviews horror greats like Sam Raimi, John Carpenter and David Cronenberg. A perfect gift for the horror fan in your life.Decoded by Jay Z
lukas, October 28, 2011
He may not be, as he has often said, the greatest of all time, but Jay-Z is maybe the most successful hip-hop MC of all time; he's not a businessman, he's a business, man. This heavily produced book (photos, drawings, explanatory notes) is a mix of memoir, cultural history and exegesis of his lyrics. Since there are few rap memoirs, this fills a void and is both a compelling story of his life as well as a cogent argument for the importance of hip-hop music and culture. I read part of this while watching "The Wire," which is highly recommended. Portland gets a shout out (sorta) when he explains why he chose the city for a song: "I chose Portland because it's the whitest place I could think of." Ha. Go on brush your shoulder off P-town.The Big Book of Irony by Jon Winokur
lukas, September 15, 2011
Those seeking for a thoughtful treatise on a much discussed and much misunderstood topic, will be disappointed in this sad excuse for a book. Basically, it's a haphazard compendium of quotations and anecdotes that does little to clarify a sensibility and literary device that, despite premature rumors of its death, is alive and well in our culture. Is it ironic that this book sucks? Not really.The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright
lukas, September 12, 2011
With the recent tenth anniversary of 9/11, it should be said that any thinking American who wants to make sense of the history leading up to the attacks needs to read this book. It's tremendously informative, compelling to read and may be the definitive book on the subject. If we seek to remember, we must also seek to understand.The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy
lukas, August 22, 2011
McCarthy is among our most acclaimed/respected living writers, but it took him a while to get there. His debut novel came out way back in the 60s and, well, for fans of "The Road" and "No Country for Old Men," they'll likely find this strange, cryptic and off-putting. Sometimes I think he's a tad overrated and this novel didn't change that feeling, as it's rather meandering, willfully enigmatic and lacking in quotation marks for dialogue. I'm not even sure what happened frankly, but at least it's short.1-5 of 140next